Young workers ‘are conned’ over pensions

A SENIOR trade union official has claimed young workers have been “conned” by their employers to take defined contribution pension schemes as opposed to defined benefit schemes.

Eamon Devoy, leader of craft union the TEEU, told the Irish Congress of Trade Unions Delegate conference in Bundoran that the trade union movement must immediately launch a nationwide campaign to defend occupational pensions, but was particularly scathing of the increasing introduction by employers of the defined contribution schemes which put financial risk on the shoulders of the employee.

“Just over half of the 1.7 million employees in this state are fortunate enough to have some sort of occupational pension, but recent figures show that 12 times as many young workers are being forced into substandard defined contribution schemes, leaving the employer with little or no liability, as are able to join defined benefit schemes. “When you take into account the fact that most new recruits to defined benefit schemes are in the public sector, the discrepancy is even greater.”

Mr Devoy was quoting from figures in a recent OECD report on pensions.

He accused employers of taking a “semi-detached” attitude to their staff and, unchecked, the situation would only get worse.

Calling the 56 unions at the conference to action, he said: “The trade union movement in Ireland has a history of protesting after the event, when jobs are lost or conditions are taken away. We need to build a campaign of awareness amongst workers on this important issue. We must develop a strategy to support workers whose schemes are under attack and help them defend those schemes before they are lost.”

IMPACT warned delegates that pay levels are nose-diving and working conditions deteriorating throughout the public sector because of the use of agency workers.

IMPACT National Secretary Kevin Callinan said apart from the potential to drive down employment for permanent staff, agency workers could be more expensive and represented a bad deal for the taxpayer.

In a motion on the economy, SIPTU president Jack O’Connor accused the Government of over-dependence on construction and borrowing, instead of “upskilling” the workforce.

Mr O’Connor said: “We have to be acutely aware of the limitations of the character of our economic growth, which is based on consumer spending and the construction boom, all of which is credit-led. There are indications that it is already evaporating in the face of accelerating interest rates and inflation. Policy makers must address the development of an economic model focused on medium to longer term development.”